Audra Hernández

Dr. Audra K. Hernández is the Director of the UW-Madison Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (McNair Scholars Program). She is dedicated to serving first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students to succeed in higher education and access graduate education. Dr. Hernández earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Florida and joined the University as a Postdoctoral Researcher in 2011. By 2015, she was promoted to Assistant Research Scientist with research interests that included the physical conditions, dynamics, and formation of star-forming clouds within the Milky Way Galaxy. As a first-generation college graduate and Chicana scientist, Dr. Hernández strives to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in Ph.D. career tracks. Therefore, with the support of the National Science Foundation, she began dedicating her efforts to student success programs. From 2014 to 2018, she volunteered with the University’s McNair Scholars Program as a STEM Professional Advisor. She was also named the Director of the Astrophysics REU program from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, she switched to full-time student support services as the McNair Scholars Program Director in its new home in the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement.